LemonLime Sherbet

So, I completely and utterly changed up the Rainbow Sherbet dress.  The pinks were excised and the stripe fabric and the green ribbon treatment inserted.

Before shots that you may remember:

 

The new look:

I am much happier with this look.  In my mind’s eye pulling out the pinks from the stripes worked.   But in reality, not so much.  This dress is done and dusted.  I am not re-doing this again.  Not that it was all that difficult to redo.  I may add an overskirt at some point in time because I do have plenty of yellow fabric left.   But that would be it!!!  This is good to wear as is and I think I will be more comfortable in it.  To me, it now seems more cohesive.

Too HOT

The past few days it has been just too hot to do anything.  When I get home from work, it is still in the high 90s which means it is over 100 in my little house.  YIKES!

I tried to sew on Monday, and the sweat was pouring off of me at the machine.  Not a good sewing experience.  So all I have done is take the ruffles off the sleeves of the 1870 dress and the pink removed.  One yellow ruffle has been re-gathered. 

That's all I could manage.  I did not want to sweat all over my fabric.  There is another 1870 event this weekend and I would like to convert the Rainbow Sherbet dress into a Lemon-Lime Sherbet dress.  Will it be possible in this heat? 

Rainbow Sherbet

It’s the colors.  Even though not correct, this outfit is reminding me of Rainbow Sherbet.  The colors, except for that raspberry color, are not accurate and nevertheless, I think of Rainbow Sherbet.

The ruffles on the sleeve turned out exactly as I envisioned them.  Yet, I do not love the way the ruffles turned out.  Something seems off.  It is too heavy.  Maybe it is because the yellow is muted by the pinks beneath it.  I can’t put my finger on what is bothering.

The ruffles are also now on the skirt.  Whew….that sucked.  I do recommend the string method of gathering.  For me it is the quickest.  With a cording foot you zip along.  Also, the actual gathering is much quicker as well.  I think I may need to spread out the ruffles a little more.  Still, I am not loving this.

I picked up 2 greens and 2 pinks to coordinate with the stripes.  The stripes are 2 shades of green, the 2 shades of pink you see on the ruffles, the yellow and a neutral beige.  When I looked at the striped fabric, the raspberry pink always stood out the most and the olive green.  I decided not to use the olive green because the fabric, while an exact match, is thicker…less gauze like, than the other fabrics.  The same with the lighter green.  The pinks and the yellow are the same weight fabrics so I thought they would look better.

Now, I don’t like it.  The pinks receded and the greens are standing out.  I think that may be because the ruffle around the neck has none of the pinks in it….so the bodice becomes predominately yellow, green and the beige.

What to do?  I think I may have to change this up after I wear it.  Have to wear it to the event first, there is no time to change it now! 

Frilly Girly Ruffles

So…what to do with the neckline?  This is 1870’s so it needs some trim. 

My first thought is the ribbon work that has consumed some of my free time.  I was able to make continuous yards of this ribbon design by buying an entire spool of green grosgrain ribbon.  Much more economical than the small spools one gets at JoAnne’s.  My plan is to add this ribbon to the skirt to tie the green in the bodice to the yellow skirt.

But I wasn’t thrilled.  So I started playing around with a ruffle around the neck.  I had seen this technique done on other dresses from this period and eventually decided to go this way.

One of the reasons for going this route is that I know I want ruffles on the sleeves; so this should tie in with those ruffles to make it more homogenous.  I can place the ribbon on the sleeve where the ruffle meets the end of the sleeve.  I am thinking about Dark pink, khaki and yellow ruffles on the sleeves again to tie in the colors in the stripes on the bodice.

The only problem, while I consider myself a girly girl, I have always stayed away from ruffles!